September272014

[Revised entry by Larry M. Jorgensen on September 27, 2014.
Changes to: Main text, Bibliography, notes.html]
In the seventeenth century, "consciousness" began to take on a uniquely modern sense. This transition was sparked by new theories of mind and ideas, and it connected with other important issues of debate during the seventeenth century, including debates...

December292011

As the rescued baroque picture goes on display following conservation work, the hunt for the artist begins

It was in the most sorry state imaginable – terribly torn, with parts peeling off, no frame, and almost black – and for about 150 years lay unloved at the back of the stores in one of the world's oldest public galleries.

Now, after a campaign that was launched in 2009 to restore it, the Dulwich Picture Gallery has put on display the baroque painting of St Cecilia, the patron saint of music – and it has turned out to be something of a stunner.

"This picture is a total dream to work on," said the gallery's chief curator, Xavier Bray. "Paintings that need a total restoration tend to be very exciting. There's always that chance you might uncover a lost Caravaggio; highly unlikely, but a chance certainly of uncovering a very good picture."

The painting looks wonderful, shines a light on the fascinating history of the gallery itself, and also raises a new mystery: just who was the painter?

The work was bought in 1790 by one of the gallery's founders, Noel Joseph Desenfans, under the impression it was by the Bolognese master Annibale Carracci. Bray said it was "not good enough" to be a Carracci, but whoever did paint it could have been inspired by the Carracci school.

Desenfans and his business partner Sir Francis Bourgeois, the gallery's other founder, thought they had a masterpiece and so wanted it hung prominently in the "skylight" room of the beautiful home they shared in what is now Hallam Street, in the West End of London.

They also wanted it hung as a companion piece to a portrait of the actor Sarah Siddons by their friend Joshua Reynolds. But that meant making it much bigger, a job that Bourgeois, a not terribly distinguished landscape painter, took on with vigour.

Exactly what was on their mind is open for debate. "I wonder whether it was about the personification of theatre on one side and in St Cecilia the personification of music," said Bray.

They may also have been paying homage to their friend Reynolds, elevating his place in art history by placing work by the still-alive English artist in the same room as Bolognese masters.

There is talk about the relationship between the two founders; some have even speculated of a ménage a trois involving Mrs Desenfans. Certainly they were close as all three are buried together in the gallery's mausoleum, their bones mixed up because of a German wartime bomb.

Whatever the truth, the Bourgeois additions were not a good thing. In 1842 the Victorian art critic Anna Jameson wrote that she had "seldom seen a picture so shamefully maltreated – so patched and repainted … [Sir Francis Bourgeois's] hand is clearly distinguishable."

Bray said: "These additions very quickly started to peel off and then eventually the canvas gets ripped and slashed and was almost totally black. It ended up in a really sad state."

In 2009 the Friends of Dulwich Picture Gallery adopted the painting and the results of the spectacular conservation can now be seen.

The gallery now very much wants to establish who the painter is.

Bray has tried all his friends in the curating world and been through all the artists of the Bolognese, Neapolitan and Veronese schools. "I've been trying all over Italy to find a similar hand. It is a really tricky one but now it's cleaned, people will be able to make a more educated guess."

Bray's best guess so far – a wild one, he cheerfully admits – is that it could be the work of a woman artist. He is aware he might be criticised for a hunch that is partly based on the artist's attention to the detail of what St Cecilia is wearing, her jewellery, and her hair. "There is a woman artist called Ginevra Cantofoli who trained in Bologna.

"I need to see much more by her and I need to go and see her work, but it does seem uncannily close.

"I'm sure it will happen one day, I'll find out who painted it. It will probably come from being in Italy, having a good lunch and stumbling in to a church and seeing an altarpiece by the same hand."

There are many other possibilities and Bray said he can sound like he's naming the Italian football team when speculating. "It's still a mystery but it's a fantastic conundrum for the gallery to have. It may even be a painting by a good painter early in his career. Could it be an early Guercino when he hasn't got it quite right?"

The painting now hangs at eye level at Dulwich, near a painting that is definitely by Carraccia, around the corner from the Reynolds and not far from a painting that Desenfans and Bourgeois also once hung in their skylight room.

Domenichino's The Adoration of the Shepherds was sold by the then cash-strapped Dulwich in the 1970s but has been loaned back to them by the National Gallery of Scotland to help the gallery celebrate its 200th birthday.

Bray admits he was not always a fan of the restored painting.

"It has grown on me, I have to admit. When I first saw her I thought her expression was pretty weedy, but it's grown on me.

"It is a good example of a baroque 17th century Bolognese painting and Dulwich is the place to come for anyone interested in the baroque."

Great Restorations

One of the trickiest restorations of recent decades was the National Gallery's huge altarpiece, Cima's The Incredulity of St Thomas, partly because of the sorry state it has been in for much of the last 200 years. Commissioned in 1497 and completed in 1504, the altarpiece was already in bad condition when it was submerged in the salty water of Venice's Grand Canal in the 1820s. The flood, at the Accademia, caused major damage but did not stop the National Gallery buying it in 1870 for £1,800.

The work needed almost continuous blister laying. In 1947, when the extremely cold winter led to the gallery's heating being turned up, it suffered more flaking than any almost any other picture.

It was not until 1969 that it was taken out of the stores and the dramatic decision was made to transfer the painting to a new panel. It was an enormous risk but successful and the work now looks serenely down on visitors to room 61.

John Martin's The Destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum was also the victim of flood. This time it was 1928 and the desperately out of fashion Victorian painter's work was in Tate's basement stores on Millbank. The Tate suffered its worst flood when the Thames burst its banks, causing terrible damage to works.

The Martin was torn in two and lost about a fifth of its surface, including the volcano. It was considered "damaged beyond repair".

In 2010, with this year's big Martin show in mind, it was decided to restore the painting's missing section.

Now, if you look very closely, you can see which is Martin's brushwork and which is restorer Sarah Maisey's. She said: "I've tried to tone down a lot of the detail. I wanted the overall impact of Martin's work to have been retained but ultimately wanted people to be able to appreciate what was left of John Martin's work."

November232011

From harmony, from Heav’nly harmony
This universal frame began.
When Nature underneath a heap
Of jarring atoms lay,
And could not heave her head,
The tuneful voice was heard from high,
Arise ye more than dead.
Then cold, and hot, and moist, and dry,
In order to their stations leap,
And music’s pow’r obey.
From harmony, from Heav’nly harmony
This universal frame began:
From harmony to harmony
Through all the compass of the notes it ran,
The diapason closing full in man.

November192011

// Johann
Heinrich Schmelzer (c.1620--23 -- between 29 February and 20 March
1680) was an Austrian composer and violinist of the Baroque era. Almost
nothing is known about his early years, but he seems to have arrived in
Vienna during the 1630s, and remained composer and musician at the
Habsburg court for the rest of his life. He enjoyed a close
relationship with Emperor Leopold I, was ennobled by him, and rose to
the rank of Kapellmeister in 1679. He died during a plague epidemic
only months after getting the position.

Schmelzer was one the
most important violinists of the period, and an important influence on
later German and Austrian composers for violin. He made substantial
contributions to the development of violin technique and promoted the
use and development of sonata and suite forms in Austria and South
Germany. He was the leading Austrian composer of his generation, and an
influence on Heinrich Ignaz Biber.Schmelzer was born in Scheibbs,
Lower Austria. Nothing is known about his early years, and most of the
surviving information about his background was recounted by the
composer himself in his petition for ennoblement of 1673. He described
his father as a soldier, but in another document, the 1645 marriage
certificate of Schmelzer's sister Eva Rosina, he is listed as a baker.
Schmelzer does not mention his father's name, but Eva Rosina's marriage
certificate does: Daniel Schmelzer. At any rate, it remains unclear
where and from whom Schmelzer received primary music education. His
activities before 1643 are similarly unknown--the composer is first
mentioned in a document dated 28 June 1643, relating to his first
marriage. He is referred to as a cornettist at St. Stephen's Cathedral
(Stephansdom), Vienna. The date of his arrival to Vienna is unknown,
but he probably worked at the court chapel in late 1630s, in the employ
of Ferdinand II and, after 1637, Ferdinand III. Schmelzer's colleagues
at the chapel included such distinguished composers as Johann Jakob
Froberger, Giovanni Valentini, and Antonio Bertali.

Schmelzer
was officially appointed court violinist in 1649. Our knowledge of his
position, duties, and activities is incomplete. He apparently rose to
prominence as a violin virtuoso, as well as a composer, and enjoyed a
close relationship with Emperor Leopold I, who was a well-known patron
of the arts and a composer himself. Schmelzer started publishing his
music in 1659. He was appointed vice-Kapellmeister on 13 April 1671. On
14 June 1673, after the composer petitioned for ennoblement, the
Emperor raised Schmelzer to the ranks of nobility; Schmelzer now added
von Ehrenruef to his name. Eventually, after his predecessor Giovanni
Felice Sances had died, Schmelzer became Kapellmeister, on 1 October
1679. Unfortunately, he fell victim of the plague early in 1680, and
died in Prague, where the Viennese court moved in an attempt to evade
the epidemic.Schmelzer attained a high reputation in a field
(violin playing and violin composition) which at the time was dominated
by Italians; indeed, one traveler referred to him in 1660 as "nearly
the most eminent violinist in all of Europe". Schmelzer's Sonatae
unarum fidium of 1664 was the first collection of sonatas for violin
and basso continuo to be published by a German-speaking composer. It
contains the brilliant virtuosity, sectional structure, and lengthy
ground-bass variations typical of the mid-baroque violin sonata.

Schmelzer
was the foremost Austrian composer of instrumental music of his day,
and had an important influence on the Austrian violinist and composer
Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644-1704), who is believed to have been
one of Schmelzer's students.

there are no indications concerning the interprets - IMO it should be Music of the Spheres - read here more about the ensemble via https://magnatune.com/artists/spheres (the linked recordings have in the online version spoken adds during and between the diverse music pieces & movements).

// ..."delight of dancing" was one of the nine Muses, ruling over dance and the dramatic chorus. She lends her name to the word "terpsichorean" which means "of or relating to dance". She is usually depicted sitting down, holding a lyre, accompanying the dancers' choirs with her music. She is sometimes said to be the mother of the Sirens by Achelous. Her name comes from the Greek words τέρπω ("delight") and χoρός ("dance").

Marin
Marais (31 May 1656, Paris -- 15 August 1728, Paris) was a French
composer and viol player. He studied composition with Jean-Baptiste
Lully, often conducting his operas, and with master of the bass viol
Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe for 6 months. He was hired as a musician in
1676 to the royal court of Versailles. He did quite well as court
musician, and in 1679 was appointed "ordinaire de la chambre du roy
pour la viole", a title he kept until 1725.

He was a master of
the basse de viol, and the leading French composer of music for the
instrument. He wrote five books of Pièces de viole (1686-1725) for the
instrument, generally suites with basso continuo. These were quite
popular in the court, and for these he was remembered in later years as
he who "founded and firmly established the empire of the viol" (Hubert
Le Blanc, 1740). His other works include a book of Pièces en trio
(1692) and four operas (1693-1709), Alcyone (1706) being noted for its
tempest scene.

Titon du Tillet included Marais in Le Parnasse françois, making the following comments on two of his pieces:"
A piece from his fourth book entitled The Labyrinth, which passes
through various keys, strikes various dissonances and notes the
uncertainty of a man caught in a labyrinth through serious and then
quick passages; he comes out of it happily and finishes with a gracious
and natural chaconne. But he surprised musical connoisseurs even more
successfully with his pieces called La Gamme [The Scale], which is a
piece de symphonie that imperceptibly ascends the steps of the octave;
one then descends, thereby going through harmonious songs and melodious
tones, the various sounds of music. "

As with Sainte-Colombe,
little of Marin Marais' personal life is known after he reached
adulthood. Marin Marais married a Parisian, Catherine d'Amicourt, on
September 21, 1676. They had 19 children together.

Facsimiles of
all five books of Marais' Pièces de viole are published by Éditions
J.M. Fuzeau. A complete critical edition of his instrumental works in
seven volumes, edited by John Hsu, is published by Broude Brothers.
Marais is credited with being one of the earliest composers of program
music.[1] His work The Gallbladder Operation, for viola da gamba and
harpsichord, includes composer's annotations such as "The patient is
bound with silken cords" and "He screameth."[1]

Piccinini
was born in Bologna into a musical family: his father Leonardo Maria
Piccinini taught lute playing to Alessandro as well as his brothers
Girolamo (d. 1615) and Filippo (d. 1648). He held appointments at the
Este court in Ferrara (from 1582 to 1597) and with Cardinal Pietro
Aldobrandini, papal legate at Bologna and Ferrara. Piccinini died
around 1638, probably in Bologna.

He is best known for his two
volumes of lute music: Intavolatura di Liuto et di Chitarrone, libro
primo (Bologna, 1623) and Intavolaturo di Liuto (Bologna, 1639), the
latter published posthumusly by his son Leonardo Maria Piccinini. The
1623 collection is of particular importance because of Piccinini's
lengthy preface, which includes a detailed manual on performance, as
well as claims to have invented the archlute (Piccinini also made
important modifications to the chitarrone). Piccinini concentrated on
toccatas, courantes and galliards, as well as different kinds of
variations. No other works by Piccinini are known; his music for La
selva sin amor, the first opera performed in Spain, composed by his
brother Filippo Piccinini is lost.

The BBC Radio 4’s In Our Time has just produced an episode about Robert Burton's 17th masterwork The Anatomy of Melancholy;
the book is essentially a 17th Century multi-disciplinary investigation
of what was then known as melancholy, and, as the BBC describes, brings
together "almost two thousand years of scholarship, from Ancient Greek
philosophy to seventeenth-century medicine. Melancholy, a condition
believed to be caused by an imbalance of the body’s four humours, was
characterised by despondency, depression and inactivity. Burton himself
suffered from it, and resolved to compile an authoritative work of
scholarship on the malady, drawing on all relevant sources."

Can't wait to give this a listen!

You can listen to the episode by clicking here. Found on the Advances in the History of Psychology website; click here to read full post.

Image: Frontspiece to Robert Burton’s The
Anatomy of Melancholy, or The Anatomy of Melancholy, What it is: With
all the Kinds, Causes, Symptomes, Prognostickes, and Several Cures of
it. In Three Maine Partitions with their several Sections, Members, and
Subsections. Philosophically, Medicinally, Historically, Opened and Cut
Up, 1621